Patty Tobias first asked me to help create a new Buster Keaton Studios plaque in November, 2014. Here we are in June, 2018, finally placing that plaque in the ground. Time elapsed? 43 months. For a little perspective, over the course of 47 months, Buster Keaton released Three Ages, Our Hospitality, Sherlock Jr., The Navigator, Seven Chances, Go West, Battling Butler, The General and College. In our defense, this plaque is heavy.

The project began with a cold call to the Los Angeles City Council. I was eventually connected with Daniel Halden, Hollywood Field Deputy in the office of Council-member Mitch O’Farrell (13th District). With extraordinary patience, Dan has helped us through this entire process, beginning with connecting me to Craig Shaw and the great people at the Bureau of Street Services. It’s their job to assess the project’s feasibility, develop a cost estimate, and then, finally, put this heavy thing into the ground.

At some point, then, we needed a plaque. I worked with Jesse Alson-Milkman on the overall design, with additional layout help from Keaton expert David Pearson, graphic designer Amber Zion, and filmmaker Jeff Vespa. The photo of Keaton and his team in front of the studio was generously donated to us by Marc Wannamaker. However, the Damfinos discovered another version in their own archives, and that copy was used. The Keaton silhouette was created by artist Nicole Bajorek, and the Chaplin silhouette was graciously provided by Associate Chaplin. David Pearson also made sure that the names of the Keaton and Chaplin films that ring the plaque were historically accurate. Finally, Masterwork Plaques was selected to produce the final product.

Hiring a crew to dig up a sidewalk, pour new concrete and mount a massive bronze plaque is expensive. So is a massive bronze plaque. We launched an online fundraising campaign to see if the international community of Buster Keaton fans would support this initiative. After 30 days, more than 250 individual donors, and just over $18,000 in donations, we had our answer. We want to express, once again, our deepest gratitude to all our donors, with a special mention of Lisa Tatge, our most generous - and first - contributor. With a final contribution from the Damfinos’ treasury (for which, in turn, we give thanks to our members and merchandise customers), our plaque dreams have become a reality.

A final debt of gratitude goes to Society founder Patricia Eliot Tobias and current president Bob Borgen, along with the board of directors, the officers, and the dedicated volunteers whose creativity, time, and commitment helped to realize this dream.